


The Gifted Troll

by Dkey



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Petstuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-19
Updated: 2013-10-26
Packaged: 2017-12-08 22:19:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/766672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dkey/pseuds/Dkey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A small child darts deep within a New York forest on a snowy winter morning. </p><p>Her goal: Presents, and one of them offers an unexpected surprise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Box Girl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aud8](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Aud8).



Deep in the forests of upstate New York a shadow darted to and fro between statues of marble and alabaster, careful to tread lightly as to not wake its ever vigilant keeper. Twirling and tumbling about the mansion in which she was kept, the shadow crept and leapt with a precision and aim that only a girl on a mission could possess. Rose Lalonde was going to open her presents, and nothing as insignificant or arbitrary as the rising of the sun was going to delay her.

Christmas in the Lalonde household was always a spectacle to behold. Much to Rose’s chagrin the beginning of the end of the year was invariably marked with the display of a menagerie of different lights, decorations, and yards upon yards of tinsel. Every year was the same, the entire mansion turned into a ‘wonderland’ of festivities, the sight of which could make an elf gag and make the jolliest fat man himself want to pass up the household in fear of the insufferable holiday music taking root in some far corner of his mind, never to leave. Not that it mattered, seeing as there were always 40 or so fancy miniature Coca-Cola shills (taking the place of the equally fancy wizards) ready to replace the chief merrymaker in case he was forced to skip over the garish abode this time around.

But it was not the horrid decorations that caused the youngest Lalonde to awaken early on a day off from school, that honor belonged entirely to the insufferable woman that Rose was forced to address as ‘Mother’. Year after year the poor girl would awaken and run down stairs in a rush to receive her gifts from the red suited trespasser only to find the witch waiting for her, camera in hand, ready to record every single agonizing moment, slowing down the opening of packages and creating more than one unfortunate nightmare inducing incident involving rabbit footie pajamas. But this time would be different, and as Rose came into sight of the massive twenty five foot tall fir sitting in the middle of the couch ring she could see the myriad of presents before her, each ranging in size to that of a book to the occasional monstrosity that seemed to be large enough to hold Rose herself, and then some! Nothing was going to stop her this time.

Nothing except for the villainous woman sprawled fast asleep on one of the couches of course. The slovenly drunk was still in her clothing from the night before, evidently falling asleep from the vast inebriation induced by the mug of eggnog spilled onto the rug beside her. Rose bit her hand in frustration at the realization that she had been beat before spying a post it note attached squarely to the sleeping drunk’s face. Rose picked up the neon yellow square and was surprised to find no writing, but simply what seemed to be a crude drawing of an opened present surrounded by a flurry of check marks in sharpie with the number one underlined in the corner. The cruel bitch was taunting her, taking smug satisfaction in the fact the she had once again beaten a six year old, but bestowing a modicum of pity by allowing a single gift to be unwrapped.

Rose gazed upon the sea of red and green wrapping paper, each present somehow sparkling in the darkness which made her fingers wiggle with anticipation. How could she possibly decide which one to open? Each of the three dozen or so gifts was immaculate, and of such a wide variety that made it nearly impossible to choose. Each box called to her, and not a single one seemed to give away its contents with any sense of certainty. In fact the only thing Rose could be completely sure of was the that even the largest was far too small to contain the pony that she had written to the fat man for, and even if there was, not a single one showed any sign of movement… aside from the gigantic one in front of her that seemed to breathe.

Rose approached the cylindrical box with caution, she could hear muffled growling coming from it, and while it made the package that much more intriguing it was not out of the realm of possibility that her neglectful mother had purchased something dangerous or convinced the red miscreant to do the same. The only thing that could have possibly been more intimidating was its size; it was a veritable pillar, at least five feet tall, three and a half feet wide and covered in a strange forest green snowflake pattern all wrapped up in a magnificent purple bow. Cautiously Rose put her ear to the box in attempt to discern the identity of its inhabitant before releasing it from its confines, but to no avail, the patterned growl was unrecognizable to her as either canine or feline, yet not dissimilar enough to be anything more exotic. Defeated Rose fell back onto her rump and pushed herself into thought.

“Should I really take the chance?” the girl mused to the box in front of her 

“RrrrrrrRrrsnrkrrrrr” replied the box in the most fascinating tone

It was enough to convince her; the package had to divulge its secrets immediately or face the wrath of Rose Lalonde. Swiftly she ran to the kitchen, only to return with a step ladder and a pair of scissors with which to unmask the mystery. With a ‘snip’ the bow was removed and the paper began to fall away, revealing six holes the size of grapes in the lid. Rose moved her eye above one of the holes in an attempt to see inside but was met with only darkness and the occasional puff of air. Eventually she gathered her nerve and placed her fingers on the rim of the lid before taking a breath and lifting with all of her six year old might.

The lid gave with a surprisingly small amount of force and sent the poor girl falling backwards, her fall only broken by the pile of gifts. 

“At least I’m not getting blankets,” Rose commented as she began to feel the bruises forming on her elbows “I wonder if my new pet is doing ok.”

Once again rose ascended the stepladder and peered into the box where her eyes met a surprising sight. Most of the package was completely empty, even if the lavish coloration of the felt that lined the box gave the appearance otherwise, but at the very bottom was a small child curled around the very edges of the container, no larger than Rose herself, with hair as black as night and skin as grey as rock. The growling that Rose had heard earlier seemed to be nothing more than a snore, one that was punctuated every so often by a slight whimper. She was dressed in what appeared to be a red skirt with a grey belt to keep it up, and a combination black shirt and dark grey undershirt, but what was most interesting to Rose was the strange headband that she was wearing. While most of it was covered by her hair two orange horns seemed to sprout from her head, similar to the color of candy corn and were at least three inches in length, with one bent downwards at a sharp angle. 

“Hey you” Rose said, her voice just above a whisper “What are you doing in my present?”

The girl’s hair brushed aside and a grey furry ear poked through, twitching at Rose’s inquiry.

“I suppose I am your present” Replied the girl in an almost antiquated, but elegant tone “I do not see anything else in here, do you?” 

“That’s stupid,” said Rose “you can’t own a person.”

“Oh?” the girl said as she got to her feet, her mary-janes causing scuffs on the floor of the container, “Why not?”

“You just can’t!” Rose retorted, annoyed by the lack of common sense “Now, you’re going to have to come out of there so I can get my stuff!”

“I do not believe that I can without some assistance…” the girl muttered “… I could puncture the walls with my claws, but I don’t wish to damage the inlay of my home if it is not necessary…”

“Your home?” 

Rose was puzzled, why would someone live in a box? Much less one that wasn’t even hers to begin with. True, Rose didn’t have very many friends, a sad consequence of living in such a remote region, but she had never met anyone who lived in a box before. A smaller house, sure, her house might have even been a little big for her tastes, but a box? That was just silly. 

“That’s not a home, it’s a box. Where are you even supposed to keep your stuff?”

“…I have my fabric pile here. It’s all I truly require.”

Rose shot Kanaya a look, what she was saying was ridiculous, but why would she lie to her? Nothing the girl said made sense, but at the same time she seemed earnest enough.

“Ok… yeah… well I guess I’ll tip you over so you can get out...” Rose said while she turned away before another thought hit her. “What’s your name?”  
“Kanaya” the girl responded “Kanaya Maryam I believe, that is the name that people tended to refer to my previous owner with…” 

“You mean your mom?” Rose said as she pushed the box in an attempt to topple it “Why aren’t you with her?”

“I don’t think she was my mother” Kanaya grunted as she joined in pushing the side of the box “I believe she was simply my caretaker, not that she seemed to care for my wellbeing as much as she did my coat’s luster.”

Suddenly the box tumbled over, bringing both of the girls with it. Kanaya rolled out from the confines of her home with a less than dignified “oof” and quickly got to her feet. Slowly she turned to face the girl who freed her, only to have the spectacle of the room catch her eye. Never before had she seen such a gigantic room, and on top of that so wonderfully furnished with only the most stylish furniture and simple paints. Ok, the fur wearing sack carrying fat bearded elves were a bit much, but the entirety of the scene made up for that insignificant flaw. It was like nothing she had ever seen before and Kanaya’s jaw fell agape, exposing her rather impressive canines.

“This is amazing!” Kanaya nearly shouted “I have never seen such a wonderful room! And this is where you live?” 

“Yeah,” Rose replied while eyeing the strange girl up and down for the first time since she left her box “Mom really likes the holi- wait, what’s that tied around your waist?”

Kanaya looked down, expecting to see something strange and out of the ordinary curled around her abdomen, but was met with a familiar sight.

“My tail?” Kanaya said as she unfurled the thin appendage and patted the black tuft of fur at the end “Everyone I grew up with had one, it’s nothing special. It’s just a tail.”

Rose was startled by the realization that the person she was talking to was far different than anyone she had ever met before. Between the tail, horns (which she now realized were not connected to a headband), and fuzzy ears Rose didn’t know what to think of the strange girl standing in the middle of her living room. 

“Are you a person?” 

Kanaya’s ears lowered at the question. It was not the first time she had been forced to respond to such an inquiry, but it was by far the most terrifying one to answer. She had been taught what the correct answer was a long time ago, but every time the words left her mouth it made her feel sick. It was an awful dilemma, and one for which her bent horn served as reminder to a poor response.

“Do you believe I am a person?” Kanaya asked in an attempt to deflect some responsibility for the atrocious answer that was surely to follow “Honestly I am unsure as to how to respond.”

“Hmm…” Rose said as she kept examining the fuzzy being in front of her “Does it hurt when I do this?”

Suddenly Rose reached out and gave Kanaya’s tail a quick tug before just as quickly letting go and moving behind the confused girl.

“Ow! Yes that hurts very much!” 

“Ahuh” Rose said as she moved her hands over Kanaya’s ears and rubbed them in between her fingers vigorously “And how’s this?”

“That is equally as unpleasant!” Kanaya snarled “Please stop!”

Rose let go and immediately put her hand to her chin, rubbing it in a manner that indicated she was formulating a hard won conclusion. Without a word she bowed her head a bit and slowly walked around the frightened furball before stopping and facing her.

“Well, my highly scientific and undisputable examination has revealed one simple fact.” Rose said as a smug smirk crept across her face.

“W-which is?” Kanaya said, a little afraid of what the answer might be 

“That you are extremely entertaining to agitate.” Rose delivered with scientific precision.

A look of annoyance and disbelief swept across Kanaya’s very being, “And what of my being a person?” 

“Oh that?” Rose replied “I dunno, does it matter? You’re the most interesting thing here, and far better conversation than Jaspers.”

“I suppose that is true…” Kanaya said as she lifted her head to show off her toothy smile “Would you like to be friends?”

“You want to be my friend?” Rose said, slightly taken aback “That’s something I’m unaccustomed to…” 

“I think so; I think we’re supposed to…” Kanaya trailed off as she looked at her box “I’ve never really had a friend outside of my brother and it does not appear I will be returning to my previous owner. Not that I particularly wish to regardless. Having a friend may be a pleasant change of pace for both of us.” 

“Maybe…” Rose mumbled “If this is to be the case then you will have to acknowledge my full title!” 

“And what would that be?”

“Her Great And Powerful Arch Magus Rose Lalonde The Grimdark Queen of the Universe!” 

“May I address her majesty as ‘Rose’ to conserve breath?”

“Her majesty will allow it on the condition that an offering of Christmas cookies is made in appeasement!” 

“Christmas cookies?”

Rose stood staring at Kanaya in disbelief

“You’ve never had a Christmas cookie?”

“I do not even know what a cookie is…”

Rose grabbed Kanaya’s hand and began dragging her to the kitchen.

“We need to fix this, nobody should not have cookies, they’re crumbly, and sweet, and delicious, and chocolaty!”

“Gah!” yelped Kanaya as she was pulled towards the kitchen “and you are sure I will enjoy these confections?”

“If you don’t, we’ll just keep trying things until we find something you like!”

“Oh, I would like that.” Said Kanaya as her smile grew across her face “I can not wait to begin!”


	2. Good Intentions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where can you turn when your friend is sick and you don't know what to do?
> 
> Magic.

“Fix her!” Rose cried as she tugged on her mother’s stocking “You have to fix her!” 

Rose’s mother took her palm off of the burning troll’s forehead and looked down at her daughter. Tears streamed down Rose’s face as she looked to her for support, but she was met by an inscrutable gaze with no way to comprehend what was behind it. Rose winced as a hand came down onto her head and stroked her hair; it was an appropriate gesture from the eldest Lalonde, but somehow devoid of feeling or emotion. The matriarch’s mind was elsewhere, and after a moment of silence she withdrew her hand and left the room, leaving the girls alone with some parting words.

“A mother will do whatever is best for her children.”

Rose ran to the door and slammed it behind the accursed witch, even when Rose needed sympathy she wasn’t available. Her hands balled into fists and pounded on the door, Kanaya, her best friend, had been sick for over a month and her mother had done nothing, it finally pushed her over the edge. She brought her into the family only to abandon her in her time of need. It was absolutely gut wrenching. 

“Rose…” Kanaya’s weakened voice called from the bed “Are you making that noise?”

“Yeah… sorry” Rose replied “Did I wake you up?”

“Mmmhh… I’ve been sleeping too much anyway…” Said Kanaya “What are you doing?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Rose lied “I’m just a little frustrated.”

“Mmhm,” Kanaya acknowledged “Could you do something for me?”

“Yes! Anything!” Rose responded eagerly “What do you need?”

“Could you get me my cloth?”

Slowly over the last few months Kanaya’s cloth pile had grown shorter and shorter. Pieces started disappearing every week and the ones that remained seemed to quickly wear without rhyme or reason. Holes appeared around the edges of the satin, fraying around the felt, and the cotton began to unravel; by the time Kanaya had felt comfortable sleeping in her bed the fabric was down to its last piece. It was only when the poor troll fainted in the middle of a game of tag did anyone discover the reason for their disappearance. 

“Actually....” Rose said as her eyes met the floor “Mom said that you’re not allowed to nibble on it any more…” 

“Oh,” Kanaya said disappointed, “then can you read me Wizardy Herbert again?”

“Yeah, sure” Rose mumbled as she searched for the strange book that the two girls had found hidden in the mattress “I think I left it on the end table and- yep, here it is.” 

Rose pulled up a stool from the nearby drawing desk and flipped open to the first page. 

“Should I start from the beginning?”

“That would be lovely,” Kanaya said with a small smile “I believe I may have nodded off last time…”

“Alright,” Rose began as she cleared her throat “The ec-site-ment in the air was so thick you could sp-pread it like custard on a crum-pet.”

“What’s a crumpet?”

“I think it’s fancy breakfast food…” Rose pondered “and custard is like a yellow pudding with eggs I think…”

“That sounds wonderful” said Kanaya “but keep reading, I wanna know about Herbert…”

“Sure,” Rose confirmed before going back to the book “What a mar-ve-lous summer day it was to be a child, whiskering through the k-nee-high r-yee, bounding over the hills with a smile challenging one’s face to contain it. What a mar-ve-lous day it was… for magic!” 

As the last few words trickled out of her mouth a flood of inspiration hit her. If her mother wasn’t going to do anything, then it was all the more reason for Rose to take charge.

Suddenly Rose snapped the book shut and stood up. A wry smile crept across her face, completely out of place amongst her tear stained features, and revealed a glint of hope in her eye. 

"I have to go," Rose said at a barely audible volume, "I'll finish when I get back"

Kanaya tossed in her bed in order to face Rose with a weak frown before rolling back over and attempting to fall asleep. Rose wouldn't be back any time soon, when the girl put her mind to something it was if her brain became incapable of considering outside influences. 

"You do whatever you need to do" Kanaya quipped bitterly "I'll not be going anywhere in the meantime"

She knew that her words would not be heard as undoubtedly Rose had already left on whatever strange escapade had lodged itself firmly in her mind. She took the silence that followed as an affirmation and slept.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It only took Rose a minute to find what she was scrounging for underneath the same dusty mattress that housed Wizardy Herbert and had long sat in the mansion's basement. She slid the tome out from its resting place and laid it aside, its black cover shimmering in the faint light provided from the door at the top of the stairs.

The two girls had found it a couple months back while searching for Jaspers after he decided that living in the basement for all eternity was preferable to a trip to the vet. Unfortunately for him his exposed tail betrayed his position to his pursuers who quickly dragged the hissing cat from his hiding place along with the book he was hanging on to. But while the whirling ball of fur and claws did not stay captive for long, instead escaping into the darkened corners of the room, he left behind the grim tome that the girls quickly descended upon with morbid curiosity.

Rose flipped through book at a rapid pace. Her first foray into the book had been interesting, it had at first glance it appeared as a diary for its author, only identified by her initials of T.G., and detailed the life of a very lonely child growing up so many years earlier in the same home. In many ways the lives of Rose and the author ran parallel to each other, both had a mischievous black cat who detested the attire they dressed them in, both had a love of all things wizardly, and neither of them seemed to have many friends with which to share their lives. But while T.G. was almost entirely alone Rose at least had Kanaya to keep her company on the most days, and it was this thought that had brought her back to the book.

As entertaining as the author's ramblings were it was what they eventually became that interested Rose. Slowly the pages turned darker, the author's mind became a bit more confused and jumbled and the sentences became long and disjointed. At some point in her life the seclusion of her home caused her interests to leap from wizards to the magic that they performed. Intricate drawings of the spells and incantations littered the pages with scientific precision, each illustration a work of art in its own right. Chants, ingredients, and instructions spiraled out from the drawings, the details in simple (but unfortunately misspelled) English were waiting for some ill prepared child to find them.

As Rose thumbed through the book her admiration for T.G. once again heightened. The magic that flowed through the tome floated off the pages and coursed through the young girl's hands. The black dust that flew from its writings coated each finger and left thumbprints on the corners of the page. Eventually Rose found what she was looking for, a ritual that littered the page in green ink. Her eyes darted to and fro, drinking in the ingredients required for the spell and snapped the book shut. She knew what she needed, and ran up the stairs.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a while before Rose could muster the courage to step foot into Kanaya's room. She had spent the last two hours in the forest around her house obtaining and grinding down each ingredient needed for the poultice that held Kanaya's life in her hands. The blonde girl looked down at her finished product and sighed, it looked nothing like the illustrations in the book. The vibrant greens of the clover, the strong fragrance of the rosemary, and the incredible shapes and shades of the wild flowers had all become muddled by the process used to draw out their essence. To make matters worse she was forced to replace some of the needed ingredients, as well as the cloth of the package itself, with poor facsimiles composed of whatever she was able to stumble upon in her search. It was a mess, but it was the best she could do. 

Eventually Rose grasped the tea towel satchel tightly and cracked open the door in front of her, slowly creeping forward as her eyes adjusted to the darkness that seemed to plague the room. Something about the area in the blackness frightened rose to a degree; toys that rested on the walls seemed triple their height in the daylight, and the pillow fort that Rose had made in an attempt to cheer the sick troll up towered above her like a castle. Everything cast a shadow that stretched away from the light of the doorway, acting like long tendrils sprouting from the objects that spawned them and grasping for the other end of the room. But what was most frightening of all was the dark figure hunched over the infirm troll.

Rose nearly hissed as her mother's form registered in her head. She had stood by, idly watching Kanaya grow weaker and did nothing to help. She had no right to be there, she had to leave.  
Rose crept closer to the woman and tugged on her stocking fervently once more and waited for her to face her. Moments passed before Rose found her Mother's pink eyes coldly meeting her own; they caught the light coming in from the hallway in a way as to make them glow while keeping the rest of her face shrouded in darkness. Her lips curled into a forced smile, seemingly in a way intended to instill comfort, but caused quite the opposite.

Words dribbled out of Rose's mouth in an attempt to command her mother to leave but fell to the floor in a mumble of syllables, interrupted by an icy hand once again stroking her hair. Rose shivered as the freezing fingers briefly brushed her scalp before batting the hand with her own and pulling away.  
Suddenly the matriarch's attention focused onto Rose. Whatever wandering traces of thought had been tumbling around inside her head disappeared the instant she recognized the act of defiance which caused her to turn to face her daughter fully. Her freezing stare saw right through the terrified girl and intensified to the point that Rose was forced to look away, only to discover a more terrifying sight.

Rose stopped as her gaze fell into mother's lap; the scientific lab coat that she adorned to spite her daughter's love of the magical was stained with a jade green fluid. Small drops spattered the lab coat at a few seemingly random intervals, instantly registering in Rose's mind as sinister for reasons she could not place; but what scared her most was what her mother kept in her right hand. The viscous jade fluid that had been haphazardly applied to her attire sloshed within the glass vile of a syringe gripped tightly in her fingers.

Immediately the woman attempted to hide the barbaric device. Whatever disgusting deed she had intended accomplish with the instrument would have to wait.

It was Rose's mother that broke the long silence that followed the shock they both shared. Her hand once again made its way to Rose's hair and the same cryptic phrase flowed from her mouth before she stood up and left the room, hanging in the air like a poisonous mist.

"A mother will do whatever is best for her children."

Only after the clicking of her mother's boot heels on the floor of the hallway was no longer audible did Rose raced to Kanaya's side. Her hands quickly rushed to the one dangling off the side of the bed and felt the weak pulse that ran through her wrist. Time was running out. 

It had become readily apparent that if Rose was going to go through with using the untested magical concoction then it would have to be soon, but as she looked down at the tea-towel wrapped item her thoughts turned to doubt. Her mind was littered with the horrible answers to questions she couldn't bear to ask. The idea that her concoction wouldn't work, or even worsened the sickness repeatedly came to the forefront and once again made her freeze in indecision. It took the hand she was holding squeezing back to jolt Rose back to her senses. 

"Hmm... Rose?" Kanaya said as she rolled over to face her friend "Didn't you leave to go do something?"

"I'm doing it now," Rose said with a smile towards the sickly troll " you feeling any better?"

"Mph.. not really," Kanaya said, shaking her head " and my arm hurts right..."

Kanaya withdrew her hand from Rose's embrace and pointed to a spot on her other arm before recoiling as the pad of her finger met with bare skin.

"What happened to my fur?"

Rose's eyes grew wide as she caught the sight of pale white skin peaking through the troll's magnificent coat of stone grey fur . Some vandal had snipped a perfectly square patch of hair away, and Rose had a pretty good idea about whom the dastardly culprit was; although perhaps the misfortune could be turned around. 

"I think my mom may have shaved it off..." Rose said in a revolted tone "I don't know why she would do something so horrible-" 

"She was probably trying to help." Kanaya interjected

"I doubt it," Rose quipped flippantly "The woman is inscrutably evil." 

"She isn't as bad as you say," Kanaya retorted "She's been instructing me on how to sew..."

"She's just trying to keep you mollified." 

"Then she is succeeding."

"She doesn't know how to fix you."

"She is trying..."

"She gave up on you!"

"Well at least I see her!"

Rose was stunned, and Kanaya's hand flew to her mouth she realized what she had said . Tears welled up in Rose's eyes as she was hit by her friend's pointed words. Yet, instead of replying Rose swiftly pulled the herb filled tea towel off the ground and grabbed Kanaya's arm. Her dexterous fingers untied the pink tassel keeping its contents together and smashed its contents directly onto Kanaya's patch of exposed skin. 

"I left this morning cuz I was trying to find a way to help you heal..." Rose muttered almost inaudibly under her breath while she began rubbing the cloth on Kanaya's patch of skin, "I... I don't know if it's gonna work but I tried my hardest..."

The shock on Kanaya's face melted as her furry ears picked up Rose's faint whisper. Slowly she sat up in the bed and looked down at Rose with a smile.

"I'm feeling better already."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh I'm sorry did you want cute fluff? Have some darkness! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
> 
> So uh, yeah, took too long but I'm probably gonna continue doing this a bit more. Some other homestuck characters are going to make appearances and it's probably gonna get a bit darker from here. The Cthulhu mythos may come into play. Also yes, she gets better, just in case anyone thinks the last line is just false hope, I'm not THAT evil.


	3. For whom the bell tolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plot of the story finally arrives, and it comes in the form of an evil man.

If there is one indisputable truth about trolls it's that they are fast. Their large feet propel even the average troll to speeds that the fastest of humanity could only dream of. As such, tag in the Lalonde household was a very one-sided affair. The only reliable way that Rose could ever hope to catch her dear sister was through the careful application of stealth. 

"Rose," Kanaya panted as she stopped to catch her breath "If you have given up on not being 'it' then all you have to do is say so. Your tactic of hiding in order to catch me unaware will undoubtedly fail this time as I have allocated the entirety of my attention to listening for your breathing!"

Unfortunately for Kanaya, she knew that her boast would not deter the girl. Worse yet her hearing wasn't nearly as sharp as she had implied and defeat could come from any direction. The living room had any number of spaces large enough to conceal a young lady, and the early morning sun beams pouring in through the high windows left many tall shadows to hide in. Even so Rose did have her favorite hiding places and as such Kanaya eyed the sofa with a wary gaze. The lumps under the cushions gave a small hint that confirmed her suspicions.

Slowly she backed away from the under-stuffed couch and inched her way towards the kitchen. There was no way that she was going to be caught by such an obvious ploy, not this time anyway, and if she could keep Rose in hiding and out of physical contact range there was no way the young troll could lose.

"Got you." 

Unless of course, Rose was hiding in the planter behind her...

Kanaya twisted as Rose's hand reached for back. Her spine arched in a way that would be impossible for any human to imitate, providing her the distance to narrowly escape the longest of Rose's fingers. It was barely enough, but once again Kanaya had escaped the frustrated blonde's grasp and in a single bound she was gone. 

"Dangit," Rose grumbled as her hand came back with nothing but a bit of shed troll hair "I thought I had her that time..."

Rose drummed her fingers on the rim of the planter before removing herself from it with an unladylike flop and dusted all the grime off her skirt. Kanaya was growing wise to all her favorite spots, and she had been saving this one for a special strike. Rose needed a break, maybe then she could think of a decent ambush location, but there was no way she was going to concede defeat that easily. The doorbell's fortuitous ringing provided a convenient excuse.

"I'll get it!" Rose cried out as the chimes echoed throughout the house; not that there was any real chance that either of the other occupants of the household stealing the door from her. Her mother was always far too inebriated to be seen before noon and Kanaya was too shy to introduce herself to people she didn't know, so as always the duty fell to her to greet guests as they came inside. Not that she minded, any novelty at all was enough to get her off her patoot for a few minutes.

Once again the step ladder she had employed back seven months ago came into use as she dragged it into the foyer. Even on her tip-toes the peep-hole was too high for her to see through, but with the ladder and an extra phone book she could barely make out what was on the other side. Yet when she looked through the hole nothing looked back. 

"That's weird..." Rose said to herself before jumping off of her perch and cracking the door open "Is anyone there?"

"Either you sound much younger in person Ms. Lalonde or I must be speaking with the other lady of the house."

A white glove attached to a lime green cuff stuck itself through the crack and began to lightly push the door open to reveal a man standing just below the peep-hole's sight. 

"My my, aren't you a cute one," the man said as he brought his hand down onto Rose's head while simultaneously making a mess of her hair "I did not know that I would be coming into the acquaintance of such a lovely young girl."

"Who are you?" Rose hissed while pushing the strange man's hand off her head "What are you doing here?!"

"My apologies, how rude of me," The pale man began while putting both hands behind his back "I am a veterinarian and representative of the Crocker Corporation on all matters regarding our biologically engineered products. We at the corporation have grown concerned that one of our products has been endangered by a breach of contract, specifically the product there."

Rose looked down to find her sister crouching under her arm in an attempt to discern who was at the door, her eyes widened in surprise at the answer.

"Dr. Scratch?"

"Hello Kanaya" Scratch said as he locked eyes on the young troll "Has your new family been treating you well?"

Kanaya nodded her head and pushed through the crack in the door. Her arms wrapped tightly around Dr. Scratch's leg in an affectionate embrace. 

"I had begun to think that I wasn't going to see you again," Kanaya mumbled as she nuzzled the man's leg.

"You know him Kanaya?" Rose said while opening the door, "Is he a friend?"

"He was my guardian, well, I suppose vet is the term he would use. He would used to come to the shelter from time to time and make sure my brother and I were alright."

Suddenly a realization hit Kanaya.

"Is Karkat doing alright without me?"

"If all goes well you should be able to ask him yourself."

Kanaya beamed as she looked into Scratch's smiling face. She loved Rose and her new mother immensely, but not seeing her brother for such a long time made her feel like something inside of her was missing. The prospect of meeting him again after so long was thrilling.

"So girls," Scratch grunted as he hoisted Kanaya onto his shoulder "Where is the matron of the household?"

"Here," replied a cool voice from the stairs, "I didn't expect you so soon."

Rose's mother descended the staircase from the inky blackness of the second floor. As always her hair and dress were somehow immaculate and the martini in her left hand was full to the brim, but something was different than normal. Her cold pink eyes were somehow both brighter and colder than normal. They glowed, as if powered by an intense flame and her piercing gaze struck like a lightning bolt when it fell upon the doctor.

And yet, her posture seemed to indicate no more than minor annoyance at Scratch's intrusion. In fact, her gussied up appearance almost made her seem welcoming at first glance. The matriarch's lips even curled into a warm smile as she finally hit the last step and held out her hand towards the doctor.

"Roxanne Lalonde," the woman stated as she held out her hand.

"Ignatius Scratch" the man said as he took it, "I believe you know why I'm here."

"Of course," replied Roxanne, unphased "You're here in an attempt to take my daughter away from me. I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, I got some plot out. I'd like to apologize for how late this is and how short. I've been caught up with classes and getting my life on track. I just needed to get this out, most of it has been sitting on my computer for a month. Anyway, the plot finally got here, and from here on out the stories shouldn't be as self contained within each chapter. Also I might play a little fast and loose with Petstuck canon because I have no idea what most of it really is.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, I wrote fluff, and I kinda wanna write more. Anyway, my first shot at petstuck, inspired by one of Aud's drawings (http://aud8.tumblr.com). Not sure why I wrote a Christmas fic in April, but it fits. I'm trying to decide if I want to continue or not, I have some ideas but I dunno if I wanna work on another fic instead. If I do continue I'm not sure what rating it will get to, but at least for the next chapter it would still be less than explicit. Tell me what ya think!


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